nienor

feminine name. Mourning

The grim birth-name the sister of Túrin, perhaps so named for the grief of her mother Morwen over the loss of her husband Húrin (S/199). The name Nienor is translated as “Mourning” and its initial element is probably be related to [ᴹQ.] nie “tear”. It is possible that this name is Sindarin instead of Quenya (see below).

Conceptual Development: The first name for this character was ᴱQ. Vainóni (LT2/138), but it was soon changed to ᴱQ. Nienóri (LT2/71). The shorter form of this name Nienor first emerged in The Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s, where it was translated for the first time as “Lamentation” (LB/9). Based on contemporaneous notes, however, Tolkien initially considered this be the (Early) Noldorin equivalent of her Qenya name Nenyáre (PE15/61).

In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name Nienor was variously translated as “Sorrowful” (LR/138) or “Mourning” (LR/317). The latter translation was the one used in the published version of The Silmarillion. In The Etymologies from the same period, ᴹQ. nie was “tear” versus N. nîn or nîr, hinting a shift back to Quenya, but since the name Nienor did not itself appear in The Etymologies, this is by no means certain.

Element in

• S. ar Nienor sel Morwen Níniel “*and Nienor daughter of Morwen, Níniel” ✧ VT50/18

Elements

Word	Gloss
nie	“tear”
?

Variations

• Niënor ✧ PMI/Nienóri; WJI/Niënor

nairea

adjective. sorrowful